Developers should take notice because according to the latest Distimo Report it appears that the Amazon Appstore is making money! In contrast to the Google Android Market (that contains 14 times more apps than the Amazon Appstore), paid applications rest in the majority (65%). This, combined with the momentum gathered by the considerable sales-success of the Kindle Fire over the 2011 holiday season, downloads (and therefore, potential for profits) from Amazon’s Appstore increased 14-fold in December 2011 over figures from just two months earlier.

Of course, there is always a downside. Statistics also show that the average price for the top apps downloaded from the Amazon Appstore were priced 40% lower than those in the Google Android Market. In fact, by direct comparison of an app available in both stores, the Google Andriod Market price was $3.47 while the Amazon Appstore was only $2.89. This is likely due in large part to the policy Amazon has for setting their own prices for apps as well as their promotional programs that temporarily discount popular apps. Of course, some profits are better than no profits so if these marketing efforts result in greater sales it is still of benefit to developers.

Overall the statistics seem to indicate that developers have more trust in the Amazon Appstore than they do in the Google Android Market, though perhaps that can be more appropriately evaluated as their having faith in Amazon’s marketing and sales abilities. Of course, it isn’t just developers that need to have trust. Users making the purchases may be more likely to spend money with Amazon given their undisputed eCommerce success and established reputation over something they may perceive as newer and maybe not Google’s core competency (whether that is accurate or not I believe the average consumer still thinks of Google as little more than ‘that search engine’).

Do you think it is an advantage or a disadvantage to Android users (and developers) that there are multiple stores as opposed to the single-store approach that Apple takes?